Surface Seducer® foam tying materials
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Flymen Fishing Company
NEW Surface Seducer® Howitzer™ baitfish popper heads
$ 5.95
Visit product page →Tie articulated baitfish poppers to offer predatory fish a vulnerable easy meal.
Design by Martin Bawden.
The Howitzer is a next-generation soft foam popper head that provides new options for tying articulated baitfish poppers.
The Howitzer imitates the head of a small minnow (or baitfish) that is splashing and sipping at the surface of the water. It's designed with a deep recess at the back of the head so that an articulated body and tail of a minnow can be embedded seamlessly into the back of the head. As a result, the body of the minnow hangs down in the water (roughly at a 45-degree angle) and moves enticingly in a position that can be seen by predatory fish from a long distance and offers them an irresistible profile and an easy opportunity for a meal!
Combine the Howitzer with Surface Seducer® Dragon Eyes™, Surface Seducer® Popper Hooks, and the Fish-Skull® Articulated Shank family to tie a variety of articulated foam flies.
Recommended hook: Kona Big Popper Hook
Quantity per pack: Medium (8); Large (6).
Want to learn more? Read Inside Look: Designing the Surface Seducer Howitzer by Martin Bawden.
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Seamless connection for fly bodies
A recess in the back of the head allows an articulated minnow body and tail to be embedded, creating a smooth transition from head to body.
Smooth, strong popper skin
Clear coat it, paint it, or keep it simple and fish it as is.
Deep cup & extended top lip
Effortlessly trigger loud and aggressive pops... And strikes! Boom!
Recessed eye sockets
3D fly tying eyes, such as Surface Seducer® Dragon Eyes™ and Fish-Skull® Living Eyes™, can be securely embedded deep inside the popper head, making for a stronger and more durable fly!
Recess for body
A recess in the back of the head allows an articulated minnow body and tail (created using one or more articulated shanks) to be joined and embedded seamlessly.
Light and easy to cast
The ultra-lightweight foam keeps weight to a minimum making your flies easier to cast.
Two available sizes allow for a wide range of fishing applications
• Medium: Great all-round size for tying general-purpose poppers to target species such as bass or seatrout.
• Large: Caters to tying larger big-game poppers for species such as pike, musky, peacock bass, golden dorado, barracuda, and other large predatory species.
Bright, vibrant colors
Available in White and Yellow Chartreuse to cover most baitfish colors. -
Medium
Length 20 mm x Width 19 mm x Height 14 mm.
Fits #2 - 2/0 long-shank streamer hooks, 20 mm Fish-Skull Articulated Shanks or Fish-Spines, and 6 mm eyes.
Large
Length 26 mm x Width 24 mm x Height 19 mm.
Fits 3/0 - 5/0 long-shank "predator" style hooks, 20 mm Fish-Skull Big Game Shanks, and 8.5 mm eyes. -
Howitzer configuration options
A variety of articulated baitfish poppers can be tied using different combinations of the Howitzer head + hook + shanks. The weight of the metal shanks causes the body & tail to hang downward in the water (between strips) and positions the mouth of the popper in the best angle to pop effectively.
Here are 3 basic configurations to consider:
• Single hook in the front: The hook is mounted in the Howitzer Head and an articulated body and tail (created by daisy-chaining one or more articulated shanks together) is connected off the hook.
Example: Hook + shank + shank +shank.
• Single hook in the back: An articulated shank is mounted in the Howitzer Head and an articulated body (created by daisy-chaining one or more articulated shanks) and a tail with the hook is attached to it.
Examples: shank + hook or a shank + shank + hook.
• Two hooks (back and front): The primary, bigger hook is mounted in the Howitzer Head and connected to it is an articulated body (created by daisy-chaining one or more articulated shanks) and a tail with a small stinger hook.
Example: Hook + shank + stinger hook or Hook + shank + shank + shank + stinger hook.
Mounting the Howitzer on a hook or Articulated Shank
Step 1
Tie your fly body completely, leaving some room near the hook eye to slide on the Howitzer popper head.
Step 2
Select a bodkin or heated needle of roughly the same diameter as the hook or shank.
Step 3
Insert your bodkin from the tail socket and slowly push it through the foam body until it comes out the cup. Make sure it comes out in the correct position, which is slightly above and just past the bottom lip.
Step 4
Put a liberal amount of clear-drying Super Glue Gel on the hook shank.
Step 5
Slowly but firmly mount the foam fly body onto the hook. Position as desired and leave for a minute or two to dry.
Painting & decoration
The smooth, strong, and shiny outer "popper skin" on the Howitzer gives you several options for decorating your popper. There are various methods and techniques to customize your poppers and a wide range of materials available, such as paints, air-brush kits, clear coats, and markers. You can make anything you want, from a quick, basic popper to much more complex works of art. It’s up to you!
There are different approaches you can take based on your needs in terms of time and the degree of difficulty:
• Basic: If you wish to keep it quick and simple and go fishing, tie your popper without clear coating or painting the body. The Howitzer’s smooth outer skin and vibrant colors give your popper a bright, finished look.
• Clear coat: Cover the Howitzer body in a clear coat to increase the durability of your popper and make the bright, vibrant colors really pop! Various clear coats could be used with the most popular typically being Epoxy (30-minute) water-based urethane adhesives such as Liquid Fusion, Sally Hansen’s Hard-As-Nails, or the newer UV light-curing resins such as Loon Outdoors UV Clear Fly Finish.
• Decorate and clear coat: Add spots, stripes, scales or shades of color to the unpainted popper body with a permanent marker or paintbrush, or create more complex painted patterns with an airbrush system. Then add a clear coat to protect your artwork during fishing.
• Paint, decorate, and clear coat: This is the most time-consuming approach, but the reward for your efforts is a beautiful and durable fly. Mount the Howitzer on the hook, then paint it with a primer followed by several layers of paint to create a great canvas on which to decorate your body and finally finish it off with a nice clear coat. -
Q: What kind of foam is the Howitzer made of, and is it hard or soft foam?
A: The Howitzer is made of an extremely durable soft foam (EVA Closed-Cell Foam).
Q: What types and sizes of fly tying eyes are compatible with the Howitzer?
A: We have designed the Surface Seducer® Dragon Eyes™ to fit the Howitzer, but virtually any type of 3D Eyes on the market, including Fish-Skull® Living Eyes™, can be used to create great looking flies!
The Howitzer's eye size compatibility is as follows:
• Medium Howitzer: 6 mm eyes.
• Large Howitzer: 8.5 mm eyes
Q: Which hooks fit the Howitzer?
A: Matched as follows:
• Medium Howitzer: #2 - 2/0 long-shank streamer hooks (we recommend the Kona Big Popper Hook).
• Large Howitzer: 3/0 - 5/0 long-shank "predator" style hooks (we recommend the Kona Big Popper Hook)
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Seamless connection for fly bodies
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Flymen Fishing Company
Surface Seducer® Double Barrel™ popper & slider body
$ 4.95
Visit product page →Tie next-generation foam poppers, sliders, and divers.
Design by Martin Bawden.
The Double Barrel is an innovative, modern, soft-foam popper body that makes it easy to tie the most popular popper, slider, and diver flies being used today to target various species from panfish to sailfish!
It has several unique design advantages over other popper bodies and is available in a comprehensive range of sizes and colors, allowing you to tie a full spectrum of flies.
The versatile foam head can be tied on with the cup facing forward to create popper flies, and can be tied on in reverse to create slider, diver, and Sneaky Pete style foam flies.
Combine the Double Barrel with Surface Seducer® Dragon Eyes™ and Surface Seducer® Popper Hooks to tie a wide variety of foam flies.
Recommended hook for Large and Extra-Large: Kona Big Popper Hook
Quantity per pack: Extra-small, Small, Medium (8); Large (6); Extra-large (4).
To learn more, read this article by Martin Bawden:
Inside look: Designing the Surface Seducer Double Barrel.-
Deeper cup
The innovative Double Barrel design creates a deeper than normal front cup for a louder pop when working your fly! When reversed, it offers a nice recess to bury the body materials of your slider or Sneaky Pete.
Extended top lip
The aggressive top lip of the popper head helps concentrate a bigger “splash” further forwards.
Recessed eye sockets
This unique feature means that 3D fly tying eyes, such as Surface Seducer® Dragon Eyes™ and Fish-Skull® Living Eyes™, can now be securely embedded deep inside the popper head, making for a stronger and buggier-looking fly!
Tail socket
The back of the popper has a recess hole that allows for embedding tailing materials or the rear loop of an articulated shank into the popper.
Popper “skin”
The Double Barrel is manufactured through an innovative process that creates a smooth, strong outer skin on the popper body. This outer skin is durable and has a naturally smoother, nicer looking finish, which means at the most basic level, there's no need to paint, decorate, or clear coat your popper. You can simply mount the body onto a Popper Hook, add Dragon Eyes and some feathers for a tail, then go fishing!
Full size range
The comprehensive range of five sizes allow you to create the full spectrum of popper styles being used today to target various species from panfish to sailfish!
• Extra-small: Perfect for tying small panfish and carp flies.
• Small & Medium: Great for tying typical “bass bug” poppers.
• Large & Extra-large: Ideal for tying large saltwater and freshwater predator flies target big game species such as pike, musky, stripers, redfish, and sailfish.
Bright, vibrant colors
White, yellow chartreuse, green chartreuse, black, orange and blue. -
Extra-small
Length 13 mm x Width 10 mm x Height 8 mm.
Fits #8 hooks and 3 mm eyes.
Small
Length 16 mm x Width 13 mm x Height 10 mm.
Fits #6 hooks and 3 mm eyes.
Medium
Length 21 mm x Width 17 mm x Height 13 mm.
Fits #2 hooks and 4 mm eyes.
Large
Length 27 mm x Width 20 mm x Height 18 mm.
Fits 2/0 - 4/0 hooks, 28 mm shanks, and 6 mm eyes.Extra-large
Length 33 mm x Width 27 mm x Height 26 mm.
Fits 5/0 - 6/0 hooks, 40 mm shanks, and 8.5 mm eyes. -
Mounting the Double Barrel on a hook or Articulated Shank
Step 1
Select a bodkin or heated needle of roughly the same diameter as the hook or shank.
Step 2
Insert your bodkin from the tail socket and slowly push it through the foam body until it comes out the cup. Make sure it comes out in the correct position, which is slightly above and just past the bottom lip.
Step 3
Put the hook or Articulated Shank in your fly tying vise and cover the shank with thick, coarse thread wraps in a crisscross fashion. This is important for gripping the foam inside the popper body to prevent twisting.
Step 4
Put a liberal amount of clear-drying Super Glue Gel on the hook shank.
Step 5
Slowly but firmly mount the foam fly body onto the hook. Position as desired and leave for a minute or two to dry. Take out of vise and repeat with your next foam fly body and hook.
Note: Although it is Super Glue, it is suggested to leave your mounted hooks for an hour or two before working further on them. It sometimes takes time inside the foam for the glue to set properly.
Painting & decoration:
The smooth, strong, and shiny outer "popper skin" on the Double Barrel gives you several options for decorating your popper. There are various methods and techniques to customize your poppers and a wide range of materials available, such as paints, air-brush kits, clear coats, and markers. You can make anything you want, from a quick, basic popper to much more complex works of art. It’s up to you!
There are different approaches you can take based on your needs in terms of time and the degree of difficulty:
• Basic: If you wish to keep it quick and simple and go fishing, tie your popper without clear coating or painting the body. The Double Barrel’s smooth outer skin and vibrant colors give your popper a bright, finished look.
• Clear coat: Cover the Double Barrel body in a clear coat to increase the durability of your popper and make the bright, vibrant colors really pop! Various clear coats could be used with the most popular typically being Epoxy (30-minute) water-based urethane adhesives such as Liquid Fusion, Sally Hansen’s Hard-As-Nails, or the newer UV light-curing resins such as Loon Outdoors UV Clear Fly Finish.
• Decorate and clear coat: Add spots, stripes, scales or shades of color to the unpainted popper body with a permanent marker or paintbrush, or create more complex painted patterns with an airbrush system. Then add a clear coat to protect your artwork during fishing.
• Paint, decorate, and clear coat: This is the most time-consuming approach, but the reward for your efforts is a beautiful and durable fly. Mount the Double Barrel on the hook, then paint it with a primer followed by several layers of paint to create a great canvas on which to decorate your body and finally finish it off with a nice clear coat. -
Q: What kind of foam is the Double Barrel made of, and is it hard or soft foam?
A: The Double Barrel is made of an extremely durable soft foam (EVA Closed-Cell Foam).
Q: What types and sizes of fly tying eyes are compatible with the Double Barrel?
A: We have designed the Surface Seducer® Dragon Eyes™ to fit the Double Barrel, but virtually any type of 3D Eyes on the market, including Fish-Skull® Living Eyes™, can be used to create great looking flies!
The Double Barrel's eye size compatibility is as follows:
• Extra-small Double Barrel: 3 mm eyes.
• Small Double Barrel: 3 mm eyes.
• Medium Double Barrel: 4 mm eyes.
• Large Double Barrel: 6 mm eyes
• Extra-large Double Barrel: 8.5 mm eyes.
Q: Which popper hooks fit the Double Barrel™?
A: The Surface Seducer® Popper Hooks are matched as follows:
• Extra-small Double Barrel: #8 hooks.
• Small Double Barrel: #6 hooks.
• Medium Double Barrel: #2 hooks.
• Large Double Barrel: Kona Big Popper Hook, or use a 28 mm Fish-Skull Big Game Shanks with a trailing hook.
• Extra-large Double Barrel: Kona Big Popper Hook or use a 40 mm Fish-Skull Big Game Shanks with a trailing hook.
Tip: When tying an articulated streamer using a Fish-Skull® Chocklett’s Big Game Shank (or as a Tube fly), both methods allow you to use the hook of your choice. We suggest using a short-shank hook to reduce the leverage a hooked fish can exert and you may wish to use a small split ring to connect the articulated shank to the hook. This allows you to easily change out the hook (and tail of the fly) to adjust to different fishing situations and also extend the life of the popper.
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Deeper cup
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Flymen Fishing Company
Surface Seducer® Dragon Eyes™
$ 3.95
Visit product page →Amp up your foam flies and streamers.
Bright, bold, & buggy
Trigger aggressive strikes from gamefish.Versatile
Imitate a variety of amphibians, reptiles, baitfish, rodents, and other creatures fish love to eat!Finishing touch
Take your fly to the next level with these vibrant, impressionistic fly tying eyes. Surface Seducer Dragon Eyes are specifically designed to fit and match the full range of Surface Seducer foam products.
Quantity: 20 per pack.- To ensure your Dragon Eyes are firmly secured in place there are a number of techniques you can use:
1. If you choose to cover your popper body with a hard clear coat (such as epoxy or Hard-as-Nails), simply position the Dragon Eyes in the eye socket and the clear coat will seal the eyes deep inside the finished popper.
2. If not adding a clear coat, simply use a water resistant super glue or UV light-hardening epoxy to stick the eyes securely in place. -
Q: Which size Dragon Eyes fit which size Double Barrel popper bodies?
A: The Double Barrel's eye size compatibility is as follows:
• 3mm Dragon Eye: Extra-small and small Double Barrel.
• 4mm Dragon Eye: Medium Double Barrel.
• 6mm Dragon Eye: Large Double Barrel.
• 8.5mm Dragon Eye: Extra-large Double Barrel.
Q: Can Dragon Eyes be used on other types of flies such as streamers?
A: Yes, use your own creativity to use them in many different ways.For example, they can be used as bright, attractor baitfish eyes on Fish-Skull streamer tying materials:
• 3mm Dragon Eye: #3 Fish-Masks, small Baitfish Heads, extra-small and small Sculpin Helmets.
• 4mm Dragon Eye: #4 Fish-Masks, small-medium Baitfish Heads, large Sculpin Helmets.
• 6mm Dragon Eye: #6 Fish-Masks, large Baitfish Heads.
• 8.5mm Dragon Eye: #8.5 Fish-Masks.
- To ensure your Dragon Eyes are firmly secured in place there are a number of techniques you can use:
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Flymen Fishing Company
Surface Seducer® Popper Hooks
$ 6.50
Visit product page →Tie poppers, sliders, gurglers, divers, and other foam flies to target species such as bass and panfish.
Surface Seducer® Popper Hooks are quality, specialist hooks sized to match the new Double Barrel popper body range, but are versatile and standardized so you can use them with other foam bodies and products available on the market.
Kink-shank
Strengthens fly by reducing twisting inside the foam fly body.Wide hook gap
Optimizes hook-up rates by creating the needed separation from the fly's body.Chemically sharpened micro barb
Allows for swift and sturdy hook sets.
Quantity per pack: 25.-
Step 1
Put your hook in your fly tying vise and cover the shank with thick, coarse thread wraps in a crisscross fashion. This is important for gripping the foam inside the popper body to prevent twisting.
Step 2
Put a liberal amount of clear-drying Super Glue Gel on the hook shank.
Step 3
Slowly but firmly mount the foam fly body onto the hook. Position as desired and leave for a minute or two to dry. Take out of vise and repeat with your next foam fly body and hook.
Note: Although it is Super Glue, it is suggested to leave your mounted hooks for an hour or two before working further on them. It sometimes takes time inside the foam for the glue to set properly. -
Q: Which popper hooks fit Surface Seducer Double Barrel™ popper bodies?
A: Surface Seducer Popper Hooks are matched to the 3 smaller sizes as follows:
• #8 hook: Extra-small Double Barrel.
• #6 hook: Small Double Barrel.
• #2 hook: Medium Double Barrel.
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Hareline Dubbin
Zuddy's Leg Puller for tying foam flies
$ 12.95
Visit product page →Easily add rubber legs to your foam popper and slider flies.
Zuddy's Leg Puller allows you to feature rubber legs on your foam flies without visibly damaging the fly body. Simply pass the needle through the popper body and stretch leg material through the gap in the needle. Release the leg and pull it through the body for a clean-looking finish!
The Mini Leg Puller is designed for pulling rubber legs through small foam fly bodies, such as the Extra-Small Double Barrel popper & slider body. It features a needle slot, which makes it easy to slip in the rubber legs rather than trying to thread them through.
